Columbus restaurateur Elizabeth Lessner plans to open a second Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace by
the end of September, this time on the West Side.

Although the restaurant at 2836 W. Broad St. will technically be across the street from their
neighborhood, Westgate residents are happy to land their first casual restaurant that serves
alcohol.

“One of the things we don’t have is a casual eatery,” said Mari Ann Binder Futty, president of
Westgate Neighbors Association, a nonprofit organization that markets the neighborhood to potential
residents and businesses. “To have Liz Lessner, one of the premier restaurateurs of the city, come
to us is more than (we) could have hoped for.”

Lessner bought the building (and liquor permit) owned for decades by Angelo Bendoff, who most
recently operated the Western Cafe at the location. Bendoff left a vintage bar for future
owners.

“It’s the original bar that was built in the ’40s,” said Lessner, whose Columbus Food League
counts Betty’s Fine Food & Spirits and Surly Girl Saloon among its quirky restaurants. “It’s in
pristine condition. We are so lucky.”

Lessner plans to “shine up” the bar, renovate the floor and give the place a paint job, “keeping
it very close to what it looks like now,” she said. “Then, we have to Dirty-Frank’s-ize it. We’ve
got to get all our crazy artwork up.”

As for the menu, it will start out looking a lot like the one at Dirty Frank’s No. 1 on S. 4th
Street Downtown and slowly take on the flavor of Westgate.

“A lot of the items that got onto our (original) Dirty Frank’s menu were customer suggestions,”
Lessner said. The neighbors association plans to run a hot-dog recipe contest, from which she and
her staff will pick a winner. “That will be the Westgate Hot Dog,” she said.

Lessner said she and her crew recently completed a petition drive in Ward 57 to get enough
signatures to put an option for Sunday liquor sales at the restaurant on the November ballot.

Dirty Frank’s Westgate, which could employ as many as 30 people, is seeking applicants for
server/bartenders, cooks, hosts and dishwashers. Lessner said she and her staff expect to interview
applicants within a week or two of opening day.

Used to fighting with neighborhood commissions about things like which shade of white to paint
around windows at one of her restaurants, Lessner has been pleasantly surprised by the
accommodating spirit of the Westgate Neighbors Association.

“The neighbors are so nice,” she said. “I showed up for their neighborhood meeting, and I
expected some pushback.” Instead, they asked: “Can we help you paint? Do you need some cleaning
done?” Lessner said, laughing.

That’s because “there is no way you can overestimate the impact this is going to have on
Westgate,” said Binder Futty.

“People will come. New people, young people, people who are interested in unique places or who
follow Liz,” she said. “Those are some of the people we want to know that Westgate is here.”

Lessner still is negotiating a contract to open a restaurant at Gateway Film Center beside the
Ohio State University campus.